A video from Alex "Sandy" Watt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9OCsB8CznE
Cool. Like the music too. Sure looked like some new faces this year? One of these days.....
Erich, it is a two step process.
Step one: decide to do it.
Step two: do it.
Next year Erich??? would love to come if I can.
Warwick.
Newbie question, not a criticism, but purely out of curiosity:
What is the rationale for allowing modern tubular hydraulic shock absorbers on the cars?
Mark, I really don't know the rationale behind the rule as it predates my involvement (1975). My guess is that someone had original T shocks, which are hard to find, and to make it fair they allowed tubular shocks, which are easy to find.
The other reason could be that it is a safety feature. It doesn't increase speed, or endurance, but does help keep the cars onto the road.
There is no downside to tubular shocks that I can think of, unlike other so-called safety items, such as steering and brake mods that are often more dangerous (in my, and other people's opinion) than the stock setup.
Warwick, are you planning on coming? If you let me know soon enough, I can probably rustle you up a car.
The car passing Sandy in the video above is mine and was driven by Bill Mullins.
Yeah, thanks for the video, Tom. Is Rain-X allowed on windshields for the MT 500? I see where the top contestants traveled the 500 miles in over 9 hours?? I always thought this was a multi-day tour?
Rain-X is allowed. The T's are supposed to have wipers, I think. If not from MT 500 rules than from MT highway laws. The Montana 500 is a five day event. The first day is the inspection day. The second day is about 200 miles of driving, typically with four or more legs. The third day is much like the second day. The third day is about 100 miles, typically one or two legs. Then there is the tear down and then the banquet/award dinner. The fifth day is usually a short tour (<100 miles or so) to a localish attraction.
I think a 5-day, 500-mile tour in a Model T in Montana would be glorious, but not at those speeds.
Gilbert, that is the fun of it. To me there is hardly any thrill greater than having a smooth running 55+ mph T underneath of you. It is like regular T fun on steroids.
I am surprised at how flat Montana is! I always thought of it as a mountainous state!
Norm
Norm - In very broad terms (because there are exceptions) the eastern 2/3 of Montana is mostly flat, and while there are some flat areas in the western 1/3 of Montana, the western part of the state is very mountainous! We were fortunate enough to have lived in Montana for almost 10 years and I always thought that state has just about everything, except for maybe the ocean, but it DOES have some beautiful rivers and some really "jewel-like" lakes, including Flathead Lake in NW Montana, and it is unbelievably big, deep, clear and cold! My wife and I would still be happily living there if the railroad I worked for hadn't gone bankrupt in 1980, after 100-plus years!
OK . . . I still want to do the tourist class run someday if we don't have to drive 500 miles in a day. Tourist class because you'll get my Waukesha-Ricardo head when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. And I'm coming in a sedan. Don't care to dress up like an eskimo while driving a runabout in June!
C'mon fellas, my hat's in for the 2015 race. I mean, no one else has a chance of winning now that I've decided to go, (LOL!) but none of y'all are getting any younger! And who knows? Anything can happen! I might even make it through the whole race.